T-bill rates decline

MANILA, Philippines  – The government was able to borrow its planned amount of short-term debt during Monday’s sale of Treasury bills (T-bills), as rates sought by local creditors fell for the first time after rising for 11 straight auctions.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P15 billion via T-bills, with total demand for the issuance amounting to P50.7 billion.

Auction results showed average yields for the T-bills snapped 11 straight weeks of ascent.

Apart from the robust demand, Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said rates fell after the government paid P700 billion in Retail Treasury Bonds (RTB) that had fallen due early this month which, in turn, injected more liquidity into the local financial sector.

“Large maturities of RTBs would increase peso liquidity in the financial system and some of which would [be] reinvested in government securities (GS) in the market, thereby could lead to lower GS yields,” Ricafort said in a commentary.

The BTr said yields for the 90-day T-bill fell to 5.772 percent, from 5.778 percent in the previous offering on March 4.